Filter shelf vs filter card in Tableau - Dashboard Approaches Compared

Dashboard Mode - Filter shelf vs filter card

Goal

Understand how to use the Filter Shelf and Filter Card in Tableau to control what data appears in your views.

Sample Data

Region	Category	Sales	Profit
East	Furniture	1000	200
West	Technology	1500	300
East	Office Supplies	700	100
South	Furniture	1200	250
West	Office Supplies	900	150
South	Technology	1300	350

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: SUM([Sales])
  Result: 5000
• KPI Card: Total Profit
  Formula: SUM([Profit])
  Result: 1350
• Bar Chart: Sales by Region
  Shows total sales for each region using SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Region]
• Filter Shelf
  Filter applied: [Category] = 'Furniture' or 'Technology'
  Effect: Limits data in the view to only these categories before calculations
• Filter Card
  Interactive filter for [Region]
  Allows user to select one or more regions to display in the charts and KPIs

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
| Total Sales (KPI)    | Total Profit (KPI)   |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|                      Bar Chart: Sales by Region                      |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Filter Card: Region (interactive)                                   |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Filter Shelf: Category (fixed filter, not visible on dashboard)     |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

The Filter Shelf applies a fixed filter on Category. It restricts data to Furniture and Technology before any calculations or visualizations.

The Filter Card for Region is interactive. When the user selects regions, the KPIs and bar chart update to show data only for those regions.

Because the Filter Shelf filter is fixed, users cannot change it from the dashboard. The Filter Card filter is visible and user-controlled.

Self Check

If you add a filter on the Filter Card to select only the 'East' region, which components update?

• The Total Sales and Total Profit KPI cards update to show sums only for East.
• The Bar Chart updates to show sales only for East.
• The Filter Shelf filter remains the same, so only Furniture and Technology categories are included.

Key Result

Dashboard showing total sales and profit with fixed category filter and interactive region filter in Tableau.